Chapter Fourteen
DiNozzo found his team leader in Autopsy, listening to one of Ducky's yarns. Or not, seeing as he could tell from Gibbs' body language that he'd tuned out. Tony handed the former Marine the print-out, pointing to a significant passage and murmured, "Boss."
Gibbs' eyes scanned it before he turned on his heel. "Thanks for the info, Duck," he said as he walked out, his senior field agent trotting after him. "Where to next, Boss?"
"Labby. Have the others meet us there."
"Including Kort and Volkov?"
His "no duh" look told Tony all he needed to know. "On it," he said, heading up to the bullpen.
Minutes later, the whole team and their CIA visitors were in Labby, Gibbs armed with a fresh Caf-Pow. The team leader asked, "You got anything for me, Abby?"
"Yep." Keys tapped and the recording of the petty officer's last phone call came up again. "Ziva, what time did you and Tony arrive at the cabin?"
"Oh-nine-twenty-five," she replied. Tony knew her well enough to detect the wariness in her tone. He had a sick feeling he knew where this was heading. It intensified when Abby fast-forwarded it to the howl. The time-stamp was 9:25, exactly when Ziva, in wolf form, and Tony entered the premises. Crap. We're screwed.
No, really? came Ziva's sarcastic mental reply.
DiNozzo jumped. Will you quit that?
Sorry. I'll sometimes catch a stray thought. While we're on the subject, what's the ink on your back?
How'd you know about that?
I glimpsed it that night in the alley before you shifted.
Later, okay? Let's try not to tell Abby and McGeek. They'd just freak out.
Okay, but I don't see how we can keep it a secret from the rest of the team for much longer. As you already said, Jeanne wants to become one of us.
Abby's voice interrupted their mental conversation. "You guys didn't see a wolf around, did you?"
"How do you know it's a wolf's howl?" Kort asked from where he was leaning against the doorframe. "It could be a dog howling, for all you know."
The Goth had a stubborn look on her face. She crossed her arms and faced the shifty CIA agent. "Maybe, but I highly doubt that. I don't know of any dog that sounds like that."
"Abby, do you want this or not?" Gibbs asked, waving the Caf-Pow tantalizingly in her face.
She turned back, her black pigtails and red-trimmed dress narrowly missing McGee. Since it was Halloween, the forensic scientist had dressed up as a vampire, complete with fake fangs. DiNozzo had to suppress a snarl; vamps and Shifters didn't mix, even if Abby was only pretending to be one. "Anyway," Abby said, "our former Marine was killed with the same gun and knife used to murder Petty Officer Madison."
"Please tell me those were the ones we lifted from Nixon's house," said Tony.
"Yeah, they were. The prints are now smudged, but I was able to lift and identify two sets."
"Wait." Gibbs held up his hands in a "stop everything" gesture. "The Glock and Bowie knife were in Evidence at the time of the second murder."
The silence was so thick you could cut it with a knife.
Finally, Meghan suggested, "Maybe someone snuck in, swapped the evidence with a couple of props, and walked out with the real murder weapons." When everyone stared at her, she said defensively, "What?"
"That's actually not the first time we've had something like that happen," McGee admitted. "In fact, Gibbs here often uses a similar tactic for interrogation."
The Bossman glared, but said nothing. He ordered, "Evidence lockup. Now."
While the agents exited Labby, Tony heard Ziva ask, "What did you find in that print-out, Tony?"
Glancing at the others to make sure they weren't eavesdropping—although one couldn't be too sure about the one and only Leroy Jethro Gibbs—he lowered his voice as he said, "Keane's the Shifter who told Nixon that we exist, and he said to keep an eye on a certain NCIS team—and a closer eye on two of its agents."
"You mean us." He could see her mind racing; her scent was tinted with fear. "Our dead petty officer must have figured out what we are, called him, then when we show up—you in wolf form—and she bolts."
"Now he thinks she's a Shifter, so he goes after her and—" Ziva mimicked firing a gun and slid a finger across her throat.
"Works for me," Gibbs said from where he'd stopped and looked back at them. Volkov and Kort exchanged glances, some mental conversation going on, Tony figured, and continued walking, following McGee.
"How long have you been standing there, Boss?" asked Tony.
"Long enough to hear your theory. Now keep moving."
Ziva and Tony had to trot to keep up.
When they reached lockup, Gibbs punched in the access code and the group was granted entrance. The former Marine flashed Ethan Keane's photo at one of the personnel and asked if the man had been in there the day before, but the woman said she hadn't seen him. Gibbs and McGee repeated the procedure with several others, but no one had seen him. DiNozzo, David, Kort, and Volkov, meanwhile, tried a different method. Even when they weren't in wolf form, they retained their heightened senses as wolves in their human shape. Between the four of them, they should be able to detect a single Shifter's scent. How hard could it be?
Not very. Ziva was the one who caught the scent after hanging around where they kept the Madison case files. This made sense, since she and Tony had been in the guy's house. Since no one had seen Keane as a human, Tony figured he had snuck in here as a wolf, shifted to grab what he needed and replaced them with the props, transformed, and loped away using the shadows as a cover, eventually returning to human form. If that were the case, surely someone had seen a black wolf with green eyes lurking around. Heck, maybe he'd even charmed his way in using his ATF agent status. Either way, they were totally screwed.
Anyway, they were now taking the box and bag from their spots on the shelf. One look was all it took to see that these weren't the Glock and Bowie Ziva and Tony had brought in. Gibbs swore, whirling around and striking out with a fist at one of the metal posts. All his efforts earned him were bruised knuckles, and he didn't have a Shifter's healing capabilities. Now that Tony thought about it, that was probably one of the reasons Nixon and Jeanne were interested in them. But how did the former Marine in Autopsy fit in? As far as he could see, he didn't. Wrong place at the wrong time, maybe? Gibbs' voice broke into his musings with: "Find Keane. Tony, I want you and Ziva on his trail—yes, again," he added when Ziva opened her mouth in protest. "The rest of you, see if you can find Nixon. I want those two now."
Probably because half his team is in danger, Tony thought—and he wasn't referring to Elf Lord or Gibbs himself. Obviously it was the team's two Shifters who were in trouble, even though they could take care of themselves and were highly trained federal agents.
"Tony, come on. Let's go," Ziva murmured in his ear, tugging gently on his arm. He followed her out to the elevator, then to the parking lot. The hairs on the back of his neck prickled and he let out an involuntary growl, stiffening as he swiveled his head, eyes searching. Beside him, Ziva went stock-still. "What is it?"
Finally his eyes located the object of interest. A solid black wolf with green eyes was crouched hidden among a copse of trees, even though most of the red and gold leaves had fallen off. Tony jerked his head slightly in the wolf's direction. "Over there, Ziva."
His partner followed his gesture, eyes narrowed. "Let's go." She was walking over to the solid black wolf before DiNozzo could utter a single word of protest.
Seeing them heading in his direction, the wolf—Ethan Keane—bared his teeth in a snarl, raised the fur on the back of his neck, and, turning on his heel, bolted.
Tony hurriedly told Ziva, "Call Gibbs. Tell him what's happened, then shift and try to catch up. I'm going to follow him."
She nodded and turned him to face her, their faces way too close. Just when Tony thought she was going to kiss him, she said, "Try not to get yourself killed. You don't have Gibbs's permission—or mine, for that mass."
"Matter, Ziva."
"Whatever. Now get going." She shoved him in the direction of the trees and pulled out her cell phone, dialing Gibbs' number.
The senior field agent jogged over to the copse and glanced around to make sure no one but Ziva was watching. Satisfied, he stripped, hid his clothes, gun, and shield, and transformed. Once in his wolf form, his already heightened senses exploded and he could easily track the black wolf. Tony glanced back at Ziva, who made a shooing motion at him. Then, tongue lolling in a wolfish grin, the green-gray-eyed brown wolf loped away, following his quarry's trail.
Never mess with Team Gibbs, buddy.
